There are three alternative methods to work out whether you are a small business for the current year. However, most businesses will only need to consider the ‘Previous year turnover’ method.

Previous year turnover

If your aggregated turnover for the previous income year was less than $2 million, you are a small business entity.

Estimate your current year turnover

If you estimate that your aggregated turnover for the current year (worked out as at the first day of the income year) is likely to be less than $2 million, you are a small business entity for the current year. However, you cannot use this method if your aggregated turnover for the two previous income years was $2 million or more.

Actual current year turnover

If you cannot use the first two methods, you will need to calculate your aggregated turnover as at the end of the income year. If your actual aggregated turnover is less than $2 million, you are a small business for that year.

Maxaco’s turnover because she is connected to the company through her affiliate (Max).

Lana does not include any income from her transactions with Max or Maxaco.

When Max is working out his aggregated turnover, he includes:

Lana’s turnover because Lana is Max’s affiliate

Maxaco’s turnover because he is connected with the company.

Max does not include any income from his transactions with Lana or Maxaco.

End of example

Passively-held assets

This basic condition allows you to access the concessions for a CGT asset you own where you are not carrying on a business but the CGT asset is used in one of the following:

your affiliate’s business

the business of an entity connected with you.

It can also apply where your asset is held ready for use in, or is inherently connected with, one of these.

In the year the CGT event happens to your asset, your affiliate or the business of an entity connected with you must be:

using your asset in their business

a small business entity.

If you carry on a business in partnership, the CGT asset cannot be your interest in a partnership asset.

There is a special rule for working out aggregated turnover where your asset is used by:

your affiliate’s business

the business of an entity connected with you.

This rule deems an entity that is your affiliate or is connected with you is an affiliate or is connected with the business entity that uses your asset. This rule only applies if the entity is not already an affiliate or connected with the partnership.

In working out the aggregated turnover of the entity that uses your asset, you must include the turnovers of entities that are deemed to be your affiliates or connected with you. Otherwise, working out the aggregated turnover is the same.

There is a special affiliate rule for spouses and children under 18 years of age that applies in these cases (see Spouse and child affiliates).

Partner in a partnership: small business entity test

The CGT rules operate on the basis that a partner in a partnership carries on the partnership business collectively with the other partners. A partner cannot be a small business entity – it is the partnership that must meet the turnover test to qualify as a small business entity.

If the relevant conditions are met, a partner may be eligible for the small business CGT concessions using the turnover test for either of the following:

their interest in a partnership asset

an asset that is not a partnership asset that is used in the business of the partnership.

In either case, the partner does not have to be connected with the partnership.

The maximum net asset value test applies differently. For this test you use the individual partners in the partnership, not the partnership itself, to work out whether they are eligible for the small business CGT concessions.

Partnership assets

An asset is a partnership asset if the partners own the asset according to their respective interests in the partnership as specified in the partnership agreement.

Partners may be eligible for the concessions if, in the year the CGT event happens to their asset, both of the following apply:

the asset is the partner’s interest in a partnership asset

the partnership is a small business entity.

Partner's assets

A partner may also be eligible for the concessions for a CGT asset they own (that is not an interest in a partnership asset). They may be eligible if the following conditions are met in the income year in which the CGT event happens to their CGT asset:

they are a partner in a partnership

the partnership uses the asset in carrying on the partnership business

the partnership is a small business entity

the only business the partner carries on is as a partner in a partnership.

There is a special rule for working out aggregated turnover where your asset is used in the business carried on by the partnership. This rule says an entity that is your affiliate or is connected with you is an affiliate of, or is connected with, the partnership that uses your asset. This rule only applies if the entity is not already an affiliate of, or connected with, the partnership.

In working out the aggregated turnover of the partnership, the turnover of entities that are deemed to be affiliates or connected entities must be included. Otherwise, working out the aggregated turnover is the same.

There is another special rule for working out aggregated turnover where:

you are a partner in more than one partnership, and

the asset is used in more than one partnership’s business.

Each of these partnerships are treated as being connected with the partnership that is trying to work out if it is a small business entity (the test entity). When working out the aggregated turnover of the test partnership, you must include the turnover of any of these other partnerships.

The maximum net asset value test

To pass this test, the total net value of your CGT assets must not exceed $6 million. To work out the total net value of your CGT assets, you must add together the value of net assets for the following entities:

you

entities connected with you

your affiliates

entities connected with your affiliates.

Include the net value of assets of your affiliates, and entities connected with your affiliates, only if the assets are used, or held ready for use, in a business carried on by you or an entity connected with you. Don’t include an asset of your affiliate, or an entity connected with your affiliate, if it is used in the business of an entity that is connected with you only because of your affiliate.

You must meet the test just before the CGT event that results in the capital gain.

The net value of the CGT assets of an entity is the total market value of its assets less any liabilities relating to those assets. This value can be positive, negative or nil. The $6 million limit is not indexed for inflation.

Under the maximum net asset value test, you can reduce the net value of your CGT assets by provisions for annual leave, long service leave, unearned income and tax liabilities.

If you are a partner in a partnership and the CGT event happens in relation to a CGT asset of yours or a CGT asset of the partnership (for example, the disposal of a partnership asset) and you are not connected with the partnership, you:

Assets that are not included

Do not include the following assets when working out the net value of your CGT assets:

shares, units or other interests (apart from debt) held in any entities connected with you or your affiliates (because you have already included the net value of connected entities’ CGT assets)

any assets of an affiliate or an entity connected with an affiliate unless they are used, or held ready for use, in a business you carry on or an entity connected with you carries on

if you are an individual

assets that are solely for your personal use (or for your affiliates’ personal use) or superannuation assets

your own home, provided the home has never had any income producing use. If you have used part of the home to produce assessable income, you must make a reasonable apportionment having regard to the length of time and the percentage of income producing use. You multiply the percentage of private use by the current market value and do not include this amount.

Example: calculating the net value of assets

The market value of Lana’s CGT assets is:

Land used in business

Business goodwill

Trading stock

Plant

Boat (used solely for personal use)

Home

$50,000

$200,000

$100,000

$50,000

$50,000

$600,000

$ 1,050,000

Lana borrowed $20,000 to buy the boat.

When working out the net value of her CGT assets, Lana does not include:

the market value of her boat ($50,000)

the liability for the boat.

Lana used her home 50% of the time for income producing activity. She includes 50% of the value of her home, representing the income producing percentage and does not include the other 50% ($300,000).

Therefore, the net value of her CGT assets is:

$1,050,000 – $350,000 = $700,000

End of example

Even though gains from depreciating assets may be treated as income rather than a capital gain, depreciating assets are CGT assets and you must consider them for the maximum net asset value test.

Example: the maximum net asset value test

For the maximum net asset value test, Lana includes the market value of the land and building owned by her affiliate, Max ($500,000), less any related liability ($400,000 mortgage). She does this because she uses the land and building in her manufacturing business.

However, she does not include:

Max’s other assets (those he uses in his florist business) because she does not use them in her manufacturing business

Maxaco’s assets because she does not use the assets in her business and she is only connected to the company because of her affiliate, Max.

Accordingly, the net value of Max’s CGT assets Lana includes is:

$500,000 – $400,000 = $100,000

There are no other entities connected with Lana.

As the net value of Lana’s CGT assets and those of her affiliates and connected entities does not exceed $6 million, she meets the maximum net asset value test.

The active asset test

The asset does not need to be an active asset just before the CGT event.

The test period begins when you acquire the asset and ends at the earlier of:

the time of the CGT event

when the business stopped (if that happened within 12 months of the event or within a longer timeframe allowed by the Commissioner).

There are modified rules for CGT assets you acquired or transferred under the rollover provisions for assets:

compulsorily acquired

lost or destroyed

relating to a marriage breakdown.

A CGT asset is an active asset if you own it and:

you use it or hold ready for use in the course of carrying on a business (whether alone or in partnership)

it is an intangible asset (for example, goodwill) inherently connected with a business you carry on (whether alone or in partnership).

It is still an active asset if you own it and it is used or held ready for use in the course of carrying on a business (whether alone or in partnership) by any of the following:

your affiliate

your spouse or child under 18 years

an entity connected with you.

However, certain CGT assets cannot be active assets, even if they are used or held ready for use in the course of carrying on a business, for example, assets whose main use is to derive rent (unless the asset was rented to an affiliate or connected entity for use in their business). Generally a rental property will not be an active asset.

The June 2009 amendments ensure you consider all uses of an asset to work out the asset’s main use to determine whether it is an active asset. However, you do not consider your personal use of an asset you own, or its use by an individual who is your affiliate, to work out the main use of the asset.

The amendments apply to CGT events that happen on or after 23 June 2009.

CGT concession stakeholder

An individual is a CGT concession stakeholder of a company or trust if they are:

a significant individual, or

the spouse of a significant individual where the spouse has a small business participation percentage in the company or trust greater than zero (see the Significant individual test).

This participation percentage can be held directly or indirectly through one or more interposed entities. You work out the percentages in the same way as for the significant individual test.

Significant individual test

An individual is a significant individual in a company or trust if they have a small business participation percentage in the company or trust of at least 20%. The 20% can be made up of direct and indirect percentages.

An entity’s direct small business participation percentage in a company is the percentage of:

voting power that the entity is entitled to exercise (except for jointly owned shares)

any dividend payment it is entitled to receive

any capital distribution it is entitled to receive.

As a result of the March 2012 amendments, the voting power calculation is ignored where the shares are jointly owned, as neither owner would individually control the voting power on the jointly owned shares. This amendment applies from 2006–07.

If an entity has different percentages in a company, their participation percentage is the smaller or smallest percentage. The same applies for a trust.

The March 2012 amendments also allow an object of a discretionary trust to calculate their direct small business participation percentage to be more than zero, where the trust:

The significant individual test is different from the control tests used to work out if an entity is connected with another entity for the purposes of the $6 million maximum net asset value test or the $2 million aggregated turnover test.

Example: a significant individual

Lana has shares that entitle her to 30% of any dividends and capital distributions of Bean Co. The shares do not carry any voting rights.

Lana’s direct small business participation percentage in Bean Co is 0% because although she is entitled to 30% of dividends and capital distributions, her percentage in the voting rights is nil and she must use the smallest percentage to calculate her small business participation percentage.

End of example

To work out an entity’s indirect small business participation percentage in a company or trust, you multiply the entity’s direct participation percentage in an interposed entity with the interposed entity’s total participation percentage (both direct and indirect) in the company or trust.

You can hold an indirect interest through one or more interposed entities.

There are also rules about when an individual is a significant individual of a fixed trust (for example, unit trust) or a discretionary trust.

90% test

This test only applies if there is an interposed entity between the CGT concession stakeholders and the company or trust in which the shares or interests are held.

The interposed entity satisfies the test if small business participation percentages in that entity totalling at least 90% are held by CGT concessions stakeholders of the company or trust in which the shares or interests are held.

As with the significant individual test, the participation percentage can be held directly or indirectly through multiple interposed entities.

Death and the small business CGT concessions

If you are one of the following you may be eligible for the concessions to the same extent that the deceased would have been just before their death:

a beneficiary of a deceased estate

a legal personal representative of the deceased (executor)

a surviving joint tenant

a trustee or beneficiary of a testamentary trust (a trust that is created by the will of the deceased).

You will be eligible for the concessions where the CGT event happens within two years of the individual’s death. Some of the conditions within each concession are modified in these cases. We may extend this two-year period.

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If you follow our information and it turns out to be incorrect, or it is misleading and you make a mistake as a result, we will take that into account when determining what action, if any, we should take.

Some of the information on this website applies to a specific financial year. This is clearly marked. Make sure you have the information for the right year before making decisions based on that information.

If you feel that our information does not fully cover your circumstances, or you are unsure how it applies to you, contact us or seek professional advice.